Chicago White Sox: Better days ahead for Jose Quintana
One start into his 2015 season, Chicago White Sox left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana got one of his bad days out of the way during his first start of the season against the Kansas City Royals.
In the Wednesday night start, Quintana went just five innings, where he allowed five earned runs on nine hits (one home run) and one walk. He only struck out four, but did throw 102 pitches (70 for strikes).
Last season, Quintana allowed five or more earned runs in a game three times, and he still managed to have a 3.32 ERA and 178 strikeouts.
The Royals hit .375 against him in the White Sox 7-5 loss, and of the aforementioned nine hits he allowed, four were off the bats Salvador Perez and Eric Hosmer who combined for four RBIs and two runs against him.
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Quintana’s day began with him facing six batters in the first inning, and the lone run of the inning was scored with two outs. He responded with a great second inning with three consecutive outs.
The bottom of the third saw three run scored off the Hosmer three-run home run, as Quintana faced seven batters. That inning, he also hit his second batter of the game and walked one as well.
Quintana’s fourth inning saw him face five batters, but no runs scored, so that inning can be considered a success for the most part.
In the bottom of the fifth, Quintana began the inning by retiring two of the first three batters he faced, but like the previous innings he struggled with that final out, resulting in another run for the Royals.
Apr 8, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Jose Quintana (62) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times, wrote about the night of Quintana:
"“Quintana labored hard, throwing 102 pitches over five innings and allowing five runs on nine hits to remain winless in his career against the Royals.”"
If we look even closer, the lefty struggled against left-handed batters, as that is where he allowed three of the five earned runs allowed on three hits and one walk.
With runners in scoring position, Quintana allowed three hits (five runs).
According to FanGraphs.com, 63.7 percent of his pitches against the Royals were some variation of a fastball. Quintana also threw his curveball 22.6 percent of the time, and a changeup 12.8 percent.
It isn’t like Quintana pitched too terribly (there have been worse outings), but it wasn’t his best game by far. The plus for Quintana was he had a no-decision and not a loss.
This isn’t a dire moment of the season or anything like that, but I have no doubt in my mind Quintana will have more good days than bad ones, and this will be a fading memory once Quintana is finished with his second start of the season.